I noticed Rio seemed distracted, not paying much attention to her plate. I decided to wait until after we finished eating to talk to her, though she approached Sakura first as we made our way back to the living room.

"Would you two mind joining me in the bedroom for a sec?”

We nodded, though I felt a bit worried as well, so we followed her out. Whatever she planned to say, I could tell she wanted the discussion to be private.

Sakura and I sat down on the bed, and Rio settled atop the chair near the study table.

"The problem with your pancreas… It’s serious, isn't it?"

I felt my stomach sink, though I wasn't surprised that Rio was the one to figure it out. I looked over to Sakura, and she slowly nodded.

"How did you know?"

Her voice was quiet, and I reached over for her hand. She felt cooler than before, the shock of someone figuring out the truth had clearly affected her.

"It was just a guess… but when you left your story so vague when you were telling it to Mai-san, it made me curious. I'm sorry if I'm intruding, so we can drop it and not talk about it anymore."

Before Sakura could say anything, I spoke up.

"You wouldn't have asked if you didn't have a reason, I think I know that by now. Am I right?"

Sakura looked over to me, shocked that I was allowing the discussion to continue but Rio nodded.

"I do work for a lab after all, so I hear all sorts of interesting things in my line of work. Not to mention all of the research material at my disposal. The reason I asked was to see if there was any help I could offer, if you're willing to allow me."

Sakura was silent for a moment, her hand still feeling cool to the touch.

"You can't say a word to anyone else, that's my requirement. Only my parents and my boyfriend know the truth, I don't want everyone worrying about me and treating me differently."

Rio nodded.

"I completely understand. You have my word that I won't tell anyone."

Sakura sighed, though I could feel the warmth coming back to her hand. She quickly told Rio the truth behind her illness, in case someone decided to come into the bedroom to join us.

"I see. I'll have to do some research, though I think I heard of a lab that was working on that very illness. Would you mind giving me your contact info, I can let you know what I hear."

Sakura exchanged info with Rio, and I did the same. At least that way, she'd be able to get in contact with us no matter what.

"I'm sorry for prying into a sensitive topic like that, but I hope to have some good news for you within the next few days."

She checked the time on her phone, standing up.

"It's getting a little late for me, so for now have a good night."

We stood up, following her in the living room. Sakura whispered to me as we walked in.

"Do you mind if we head out too? I think I want some alone time."

I nodded, feeling a little down at hearing that. She quickly squeezed my hand, noticing my mood change.

"That doesn't mean I want you to go too. I still want to spend more time with you, silly."

I smiled, glad that I'd be able to enjoy the night a little longer with her.

"Thank you so much for having us, but we're going to head out too. It's been a very long day, but we'd love to get together again."

Mai came up to us first, thanking us for coming.

"It was great having you guys over, we really should get together again. Maybe a double date sometime?"

We both nodded, looking forward to it.

I made my way over to Sakuta, holding out my hand. 

"Thanks for everything, helping me out and having everyone over. It was really great, and I appreciate all of the kindness shown to us."

He smiled, shaking my hand.

"I'm glad to be of service, we'll link up again one of these days. A double date sounds like a fun idea."

Issei and Kyoko waved goodbye. Sakura getting in one last hug for the night from her closest friend.

Rio walked us to the front door, reminding us she would be in touch as soon as she had any news, and with that we stepped out into the night.

It was still early enough that we could spend some more time together, but I wasn't sure where to go. I asked Sakura where she wanted to go, but she simply shrugged.

"How about we just walk around for a bit? I don't want to go home just yet, unless you wanted to come over."

"I'm fine with walking around, though I did see something about a parade on the TV this morning. Maybe we could go check it out?"

Sakura quickly pulled out her phone, trying to look up where the parade was being held. She turned the screen towards me so I could see.

"Looks like it's not too far from your home, if we hurry we can catch the end of it. And it says something about a surprise afterwards, I wonder what that could be?"

There was only one way to find out. Hand in hand, we headed towards the station.

By the time we arrived in Takaoka, we had missed most of it. The little bit we did get to see was still enjoyable, I looked over to see Sakura smiling the whole time.

As the end of the parade passed by, I began to wonder what was to come. The minutes passed by, and I started to think that nothing else was going to happen.

"Oh look!"

Sakura pointed up in the distance, and I looked up to see a small light rising upward. The night sky soon began to light up, as hundreds of lanterns filled the horizon.

"It's beautiful."

Sakura leaned her head on my shoulder, and I wrapped my arm around her, holding her close.

It truly was a beautiful sight, the fireworks we had seen together was a spectacle but I knew I'd never forget this night. We watched silently as the lanterns floated away, the perfect end to a perfect day.

As the night darkened more and more, we decided to walk around the area. There was a lot of food stands, but the two of us were still full from dinner so we passed by them. Sakura had hoped to find some game stands, but they had already closed up for the night.

"We can always go to another event and visit them earlier."

Sakura nodded, smiling at the thought of future dates.

"Do you really think she'll come up with something?"

Sakura said softly as we left the area of the festivities.

"I do, I don't think she would have brought it up if she wasn't confident. She doesn't seem like the type of person to give false hope to people."

Sakura stopped walking, it took me a few steps to realize and I turned towards her.

"When I was in the hospital for this last visit, the doctors had some bad news."

A tear rolled down her cheek, her voice soft.

"The time that I was supposed to have left, it got shorter. I want to believe that she'll have something, but part of me is scared to get my hopes up."

I was stunned, I had felt that there was something off about Sakura when I had visited her, but she had said it was nothing before.

"I didn't want to say anything at first, I didn't want to cause you any worry or make you feel like you had to treat me differently because of it. And now I have something precious, it's just… It's not fair!"

I walked up to Sakura, wrapping her in an embrace. She clung tightly to me, I could feel her shaking as the tears rained down. I felt powerless in the moment, what words could I say to make her feel better?

Everything I could think of would just seem hollow, so instead I placed my hand on the back of her head, stroking my fingers through her hair.

"Do you still want to be with me, even if I only have a short time left? I can understand if you say no."

Sakura spoke softly, yet I could hear the hurt in every word.

"Of course I do, how could I live with myself if I left you now?"

Her only response was to hold me even tighter, then she spoke up once again.

"About what you said at the party, did you really mean that?"

I thought back to everything I said, then remembering the embarrassing moment that had occurred.

"I do, I would never had said that if I didn't mean it."

We were both silent for a moment, and I debated saying more before Sakura spoke again.

"Can I hear you say it, to me?"

Her voice trembled, barely about a whisper. I pulled back from the hug, taking her hands in mine.

"Sakura, I love you."

The smile she rewarded me with was worth more than anything in the world.

"I love you too."

She leaned forward, and we shared our second kiss.

The passion and swirling pool of emotions behind this kiss was even more than the first. The joy and sadness we felt mixed together, her lips wet from the tears. We pulled back, smiling at one another.

"I promise Sakura, I'm not going anywhere."

"Not even to walk me home? That's not very nice."

I laughed, and shook my head.

"You know what I mean."

She smiled warmly.

"I do, and thank you. You don't know how much that means to me, to hear you say that."

We began to head to her house, trying to spot any of the lanterns from earlier but having no such luck.

"Are you busy tomorrow?"

I shook my head, somewhat surprised Sakura hadn't already assumed that I was free.

"What would you like to do then?"

I thought it over, then recalling the conversation with my mom.

"Would you like to come over? You could meet my family."

She blushed, but nodded.

"That sounds wonderful."

We turned the corner on her street, and I was dreading having to say goodbye for the night.

Sakura must have noticed, as she squeezed my hand.

"I'll see you tomorrow, and if you get too lonely you can always text or call me."

I smiled, nodding.

"You're right, it was just such a perfect day that I wish it didn't have to end."

We had stopped outside of her house.

"It really was, wasn't it? I had a lot of fun today, meeting your new friends, seeing the parade and lanterns, spending time with you. But I think every day we're together can be a perfect day, to me they always have been."

She held out her arms, and we embraced.

I promised to text her once I got back home, and she waited until I was out of sight to go inside. Before I knew it, I was in my neighborhood, my mind thinking about the day with Sakura.

As I stepped inside my house, I could hear the TV in the living room. I peeked in to see my mom on the couch, turning around at the sound of the front door closing.

"How was your day?"

I smiled.

"It was really great. About what you were saying before, I was thinking of bringing her over tomorrow."

A look of surprise came over her face, before smiling.

"I can't wait, I'm very excited to meet her."

I made my way up to my room, remembering to text Sakura.

"I'm glad you got home safe. I was thinking about you the whole time."

Her reply came fast, she must have been glued to her phone waiting for me.

"I was thinking about you too, I can't wait for tomorrow. My mom is very excited to meet you."

A slight delay, then my phone vibrated.

"I wonder who is more excited, me or your mom. Thank for you the wonderful day, it was truly perfect."

Such simple words, but to see them from her filled me with joy.

"Shall I meet you at your house in the morning? I may be a bit greedy and want to spend as much time with you as possible."

I quickly glanced around my room, making a note to clean it up in the morning before leaving.

"That does sound greedy, but I'll allow it since I want to be greedy too."

We continued texting back and forth, well into the night.

"I'm sorry, but I'm tired now. I'll talk to you in the morning."

I realized it was already one in the morning.

"I'll be looking forward to it. Good night Sakura."

I sent the text, smiling like a fool. A few moments passed before my phone vibrate again.

"Good night my love. Sweet dreams."

I could feel myself blushing, still not quite used to hearing that.

I plugged my phone in, settling into bed. The last thoughts in my mind before I fell asleep was the talk with Rio.

"I really hope she pulls through."